do you use your creativity to work with or against the game?

fire stalkers are stupid - no one on fire can be hidden. Say that, and people who want to play fire stalkers will come up with magic or some other explanation as to why fire stalkers can be hidden.

many players are very good at being creative about how or why something works the way they want it to work.

but then some players simply refuse. Superheroes do not buy things in stores. They are just blocked by that. They cannot come up with a reason why they would in the game, they just find negative examples in comics where they do not. Rather than figure out how to make the game work, they will argue endlessly and inventively on why it does not.

So where do you fit in? Do you make your characters work with the game, or are you painfully aware of how the game does not meet your character's needs?

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While I am a minimal roleplayer, all of my character concepts fit into the game world. A siren from Cimmerora, an electric demon from Cap Diable, a carnival ringmaster from the world. So they all work with the lore. And all of my characters are at least semi-pulp. A voodoo hougan buying magic items works. A brain in a jar in a robot body buying tech parts works for me.

I make characters in the game CoX, rather than making characters and trying to squeeze them into CoX.

Sometimes I use the story as is, sometimes I mod it, and sometimes it's made of such utter dumb that I totally ignore it.

As the Blaster Bentley Berkeley of Virtue, I think I can safely say I fall into the "Be as much a part of the game's world" group as one could. For a long time now I have simply chosen to avoid in game aspects that dont fit with a given character as much as I can without crippling the character.

To that end its more likely I use a generic or discrete vendor rather then head to the stores, with perhaps the exception of good ol Pandora's Box. I love that little shop and demand a powerful day job accolade to be added there so I can log off and on in my favorite location again

For example my mere human character, outside of the initial incarnate unlock arc which i did while helping another so as to say it wasnt his own personal adventure, only has earned inc shards and threads through general gameplay and WSTs and the like. No Itrials for him, they just dont fit his concept. Sure it was slow steady progress rather then bang and done, but it didnt hurt him in anyway to take some time getting there.

I have been here a while and likely wont ever quit permamently. This means I never feel pressure to go through new content with every alt over and over immediatly. I usually pick one character most suited to what the apparent story seems to be and go with that.

Bentley Berkeley as you can imagine has been enjoying both the SSA and new DA arcs ALOT! Fit him like they where custom AE arcs. Ah the rich and satisfying play that comes with a truly immerssive Lore Based RP character.

I suspend my disbelief at the door- everything about every MMO out there is ridiculous on some level, either you get on board with the specific flavor of silly of the game you're currently playing, or why bother?

I indulge in the cool stuff, engage the goofy stuff on whatever level it inspires my interest (as in the case of the market, very deeply indeed) and mostly blow off anything that doesn't otherwise 'work' for me.

To me, it is always more fun to work within the game than to try and shoehorn in something that clearly doesn't fit, and it irks me when people try to bring in something that's clearly foreign - it strains suspension of disbelief. Working within such constraints should be an exercise in creativity, not a damper on it. On the other hand, I don't have the patience to be IC 100% of the time, so if I'm on random PUGs or trials I don't worry about whether I'm doing something that my character really would do or not: OOC, anything goes, because let's be honest, Virtue's population is so huge I'm probably not going to see most PUGgies I team with again and it's not worth the effort to care.

Also:

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Originally Posted by Demetrios Vasilikos As the Blaster Bentley Berkeley of Virtue, I think I can safely say I fall into the "Be as much a part of the game's world" group as one could. For a long time now I have simply chosen to avoid in game aspects that dont fit with a given character as much as I can without crippling the character. .....edited for brevity... Bentley Berkeley as you can imagine has been enjoying both the SSA and new DA arcs ALOT! Fit him like they where custom AE arcs. Ah the rich and satisfying play that comes with a truly immerssive Lore Based RP character.

Yep, I play an oldschool Midnighter too; new DA is the most fun I've ever had with this game, though I wouldn't say the Hour Thief has been enjoying it, per se

I work with the game to a point, but there have been concepts that I haven't made because there's something glaring that doesn't mesh mechanically with my thoughts of how the character should be.
In terms of story/background: at the very least most of my characters live / work(ed) / (sometimes) were born in Paragon City. Many also happen to have flavorful details involving minor aspects of the game world that define that particular character, but I do not consider it a priority.

I have a young hero that survived the Galaxy City disaster.
I have a man, a Steel Canyon resident, transformed into an elemental by an infernal creature summoned by the Hellions.
I have a mechanic with a tire-like body who not only co-owns a repair shop in Atlas Park with his retired hero father, but who also had to move across town when his original place of work got rezoned into a residential district (overnight, might I add... the magic of game patches).
On the other hand, I have a kid that turns into a dragon that often interacts with other dragon characters that decidedly clash with his "superheroic" theme at times.
I also have a winged man that I still need to develop, but he was born into a secret cult of sorts that isn't related to anything the game has to offer, coming to Paragon City after a long soul-searching journey.
I haven't yet made any sort of story related to Crey and their illegal experimentation tendencies.

I could go on.

Depends on my mood, my main is a Magic Dual Blades/Electric Armor Brute demon priestess from another dimension who uses chaos magic to protect herself. She really doesn't contradict anything from the lore. My Dual Pistols/Time Corruptor used the lore, she was in the middle of an interview with Crey when Longbow attacked. Crey dismissed her and she blames both Crey and Longbow for her poor fortune afterwards. Though I ignore it, more often than not, I don't contradict it. No mysterious reappearing sons of Recluse or Arbiters or what have you.

Some of my characters

I've got a couple of characters who fit in to the game lore, but it's normally not something I worry about (it doesn't help that I'm not that "up" on the game lore as it is). I make who I want to and let it go at that; that said, I can't think I've made anyone who's directly somehow violating the game in any way - any magicy character can be from the past, from a magical dimension/plane, anything like that, for example.

Ah, yes. I forgot the Incarnate factor.

Admittedly, at this point, that's one thing I've been somewhat ignoring for both my current Level 50 characters. One might actually progress down that path officially later, but the other one (despite the fact I do have his rare Alpha and only that) isn't meant to be anywhere near god-like.

MMO game mechanics are toxic to good narrative as far as I'm concerned so I have no inclination to try to "creatively work" anything that's not useful to my story. (at the same time, you have to be flexible if the people you're doing interactive storytelling with (roleplaying) DO make use of these plot points)

I play the game to draw inspiration, I decide how it applies to my characters' stories separately. I'm perfectly inclined with using the game to inspire my stories wherever possible and maintain a blind eye to those that I don't need.

• I don't use medical teleporters that instantly heal you and let you race back to the baddie in seconds. Characters get wounded, captured, exhausted, and even defeated. That doesn't mean that I don't play the game by rezzing at the hospital and running back to the battle, but if I was retelling the battle for others (or turning it into a comic or movie) the fight would be very different than how a "play by play" of the game's mechanics would be.
• Battles with Giant Monsters aren't won by repeatedly whacking at the Kronos Titan's big toe, nor are they done standing there spamming attacks. In my narrative, someone may have jumped onto the Kronos Titan's back, torn off a panel, managed to reach inside despite the potentially-crushing pistons and gears, and yank at wires until something breaks, etc.
• Injury is not a whittling-down of hit points, operating at peak performance until you drop dead. Healing isn't a mid-battle effect that others necessarily do. They may telepathically ease the pain, inspire me to push harder, and rarely use some form of magic, but not every battle every time.
• Bullets are not one of the least-damaging ways for an enemy to attack a character that's not damage-resistant. Even by Hollywood "its merely a flesh wound" standards, the game's representation of it doesn't work for me. That doesn't mean that every gunshot is deadly- Its more often that they missed... or you strained yourself dodging them. Think of the movie "Die Hard" - McClane gets shot at a lot, takes a beating, even gets shot, but there's no way he shrugs off a direct bullet to the chest regularly.
• Our base isn't something teleported to from random points of the city. It's a physical location at a specific place thats accessed through traditional travel.
• My characters stories aren't limited to the powersets the devs make available to us (or the archetypes they're available in). My martial artist may have situations where an assault rifle would be the best plan of attack or might have had training in a polearm, bow, sword, or dual blades as I want (or not). My fire scrapper might actually have all his attacks manifest as a fiery blade from his hand, not just a select few attacks.
• My controller doesn't have to keep punching defenseless baddies encased in rock just because I haven't worn down their HP enough before trapping them.
• Wentworths isn't a clearinghouse for hero-traded stuff thats essential to proper heroing like it comes through via play, but it could be useful as a place that a connected hero could occasionally approach if looking for something needed during a course of investigation. Similarly, I have many characters that are university students, faculty, and staff, but none of them have ever used the "invention system" as its used in the game.
• If I want a story covering the death of a hero, I'm not going to waste any time trying to explain away game elements like "why didn't his mediporter work?" I'm not going to mention it or use it anywhere. I treat it as if it wasn't there.
• This goes for even very big obvious parts of the city like war walls. A hero may fly from point a to point b in the city. I won't say that he had to use tunnels or the monorail or fly over the walls or have some device that lets him pass through them. I just won't mention them or acknowledge they.
• Magic shops can appear in the stories, but my character wouldn't frequently visit it to equip himself for specific items to boost certain powers. He might need to research a book they have... or maybe even need to see if they have a special kind of clay that could be used safely in golem animation...
• None of my heroes have had to visit the Freedom Phalanx or Vindicators or Arachnos for training. They learn from their encounters or from practice with others. Positron, Synapse, Ms. Liberty, & the arbiters still exist, though.

This is a hard question for me to answer directly. I'm not sure how much I'm "working against" the game as redefining segments of it. My characters often have silly names and concepts, based on the following assumptions:

1) To my audience (other players) I am usually just a figure running by in the background.
2) Given a sufficient population of super-powered people, some of them probably would be weird/cheesy/self-consciously pun-y.
3) It's possible for a scenario played mainly for comedy to still have some moments of seriousness or gravity.

My opinion and treatment of each individual character varies. For example, of the characters in my sig, Joan of Arkansas stands out for being more "weighty" than many of the others. For me she is like a personification of a heavy moment in an otherwise lighthearted screenplay. Specifically, I think of her like the song "Suddenly Seymour" from Little Shop of Horrors; a ridiculous situation that still possibly communicates real emotion and pathos. Other characters are played much less seriously, or even as background-t0-the-background characters.

In any case, I don't read mission text really ever. Missions where you have to make a decision or talk to some person I just click through without reading what is going on. I read lots of novels and such but I find the story element mostly irrelevant to this particular game.

Yeah, I generally don't acknowledge the existence of things like enhancements, inspirations, inventions, or stores as having any sort of substance in the lore. They're effectively non-issues. Sure, maybe you can invision a character stopping off at a "laboratory" or "library" for some "widget" that might help in his adventures, but I don't think everything always needs to be explained like that. Dr. Brainstorm alone proves how lame trying to explain every mechanic in game lore can be. Just nod your head and accept that mechanics are mechanics and try not to think about them too much. It's separate from the story and immersion breaking if you try to brute force them into it.

I utilize what I like and ignore what I don't.

These items can, and do, differ between characters. Some, but not all, of my characters really do use enhancements the way they're presented, as item or mutation upgrades. Some of my characters just "get more powerful". Some of my characters have houses and jobs and stuff, and some of my characters are "just there".

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Originally Posted by Dispari I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.

My nrg/nrg blaster is a tech guy, he builds his own devices and adapts technology as he sees fit.

My human form peacebringer though is not kheldian no matter what the source material says.

there are so many holes in canon, and so many borked stories in the game - especially the incarnate content that it's often just easier to ignore the lore and play the game.

"You got to dig it to dig it, you dig?"
Thelonious Monk

The majority of lore I can work with relatively easy. For example, sure, my characters by stuff from shops. Some of them have to eat, some need clothes (some don't) and video games, books, new toothbrush etc.
What they DON'T do is buy cybernetic hearts and fill themselves with 13 of them, or lace their arms with ammunition, or wear 15 pairs of gauntlets, or-

Yeah. You see where I'm going. The enhancement stuff is purely metagame. Ergo, it gets ignored in-character for what it is.
I tend to ignore most of the Incarnate stuff, too. My current main, Chief Centurion Z1, is an extraterrestrial robotic being. He's not 'being empowered' by anything. Really, I could argue that he's always had that level of power (after recovering from major shut-down when he crashed on Earth during the 40s) and he's now having to use it more to fight tougher stuff. My human, rifle wielding guy in power armour certainly isn't being empowred by anything. He works for Vanguard, so he's just packing more anti-heavy and Incarnate-level busting weapons and ammunition, along with shielding and better armour plating.


Stuff like Doc Brainstorms power proliferation gets ignored outright as non-canon guff that should never have been written in the first place, period

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Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

A lot of my characters are kinda crazy in concept and have little to nothing to do with the actual lore of CoX. Trying to make them fit into the lore would be like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

I do have a few characters that are closer to the lore too. I have a Hellion whose Mutation manifested and gave him dark powers similar to high ranking Skulls, a new model of Nemesis Automaton, a former Freak who left the group to seek enlightenment and has come back to Paragon to show his Freak brothers the light, and an Arachnos Soldier who simply wants to hurt people.

I also ignore things like Day Jobs, Shops, Inventions, etc. They're just game mechanics to me.

Over the years, I've spent an inordinate amount of effort specifically NOT fitting into this game's established canon as much as I can. There is one notable exception to this, that I'll as likely ret-con if I used her anywhere else, but the basic rule I follow is that I don't use other people's established work in my personal work. I don't want it in there reducing my claim at creativity for one thing, and I don't want to feel like I'm stealing other people's ideas to launch my own for another. As such, no Siren from Cimerora and no Blast of the Hollows for me.

Many... If indeed not MOST of my characters come from "other places." These could mean other planets, other dimensions, other time periods (either future or VERY distant past), other dimensions (NOT including the established ones), other planes of existence (EXCLUDING the netherworld and the various spirit worlds already established in the game) or, sometimes, just out of some type of alternate reality that has no explanation. Even when my characters do originate from "here," I still go out of my way to make them explicitly NOT affiliated with any existing faction, location or concept already mentioned in the game. If Paragon Studios got there first, then they get to keep it. If I got there first, I make a grandfather exception.

To me, what makes City of Heroes unique is that it presents me with a world where I can make creations truly and uniquely my own without the constraints pretty much all other games put on me. I see no benefit - and that's purely my opinion - in wasting that potential and aping the status quo anyway. If I want to make a character that fits the constraints of a given fictional setting, I can play essentially every other contemporary game ever made. I come to City of Heroes for the chance to do something different, something uniquely my own. THAT is what I value first and foremost.

You are correct in that a "solution" to all my problems is always presented to me in the form of "well, just change your concept so it fits." To this I say no. No I will not change my concept. This concept is why I play the character to begin with. To "adapt" it is to turn it into something I no longer want. Yes, I COULD adapt my characters to better fit with the setting. I'm actually quite fed up with people asserting that I'm claiming I can't. I can adapt them, that's not the problem. The problem is that I don't want to, and no amount of logic is going to change that. Desires are simply not reasonable, they're just what we want, and my characters is what I want.

Luckily, City of Heroes is fairly open-ended... Well, open UNTIL the end, so it's as close to "anything goes" as a game with story of any kind is going to get. I don't believe players really should be put in a position of having to justify plot elements by altering their concepts, or at least they should not be put in this position very often. There's nothing to be gained from it. Options, here, are the key. If you want to be part of the game's fictional universe, then I fully support that choice. If I DON'T want to be part of that, however, I'd appreciate having that choice without needing to justify my desire to have it over and over again.

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Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

I think many of us can hope that Doctor Brainstorm is Fanon Discontinuity and hopefully now Canon Discontinuity. Also, as Chase_Arcanum wrote, a lot of the mechanics justified by story for MMO's simply -don't- work for a compelling roleplaying or story writing narrative.

Let's take the mediport and rejuvinators. These two items, if applied literally to roleplaying and stories, can serve to utterly remove personal risk from heroes. A heroic sacrifice becomes something a quick teleport to the hospital will soon sort out. There's no peril because they know they can just beam out. The prison cell mechanics only appear on certain maps (Arachnos, Council/5th, Circle of Thorns) and that's technological/magical redirection to their cells.

To take Brainstorm, the idea that science enables someone to get angrier as they swing an axe is quite frankly ridiculous, as if this was not a possibility before science happened. It was pointless story justification for something that need not be justified.

I tend to dislike the CoH column on Massively, and in the most recent one they complained about a lack of an alter-ego/job mechanic in game. I for one am glad there is no 'official' implemented system to handle this. Why? Because as the system currently stands, there are now over the course of 22 updates few mechanical barriers to have my characters do something I want them to do as a job, or be.

Zortel now uses the Huge Body type to signify the switch from a more slender to a more protective, bulkier power suit as she has grown older. Dale Drake goes from his male bodytype to a huge body type when he shifts to werewolf form, the same as Haemokin does when he transforms into his blood beast form. There's nothing to stop me saying that Tina P. Caustaf is a pact broker for Pacts 4 U, or that Jan Boa can't work her mercenary and manpower company out of the above apartments of a Euromart selling imported foodstuffs from continental Europe in Port Oakes.

So, to answer a statement posted at the start: